Hopeless
by Fez98
Summary: One night while Lightning is watching over things, she notices Hope is not feeling like himself and decides to make the ultimate decision, will Lightning save Hope?


A/N: Back now (sort of.) I have quite a bit to do, so think of this as some filler before my next big project, as well as the revision to starlight and the conclusion of The Love bond between the two. Which will be done on some of my spare time.

Hopeless

It was a dark night on the land of Gran Pulse at a desolate campsite. There was the smoldering remains of a campfire that seemed to have been burning for quite some time. The night sky was so vivid and clear, that almost every star in the sky illuminated, next to the floating planet of Cocoon. Where they once lived, but not anymore. It seems that everyone had to try their hardest to just stay alive and get by,

Lightning, who volunteered to watch over the campsite while the others were asleep was starting to get tired. By estimating the position of the stars in the sky, she figured that it was about three o' clock in the morning. She was starting to get tired, and started to doze off, but before she could fall asleep, a loud crunching sound awoke her. Nervous to tell if it was a fiend or a C'eith, she drew out her gunblade and noticed that there was nothing there...

"I am really tired." She thought to herself, "all of the hallucinations..." as she put her weapon back into its case. And took a casual look around to notice if there actually was something that passed.

And there was... a small array of footprints, but they did not look like any of a fiend. She glance d at the campsite to ensure that everyone was there. She saw Snow curled up, fast asleep next to a rock, Sazh sound asleep next to the remains of the campfire, and Vanille and Fang asleep on the opposite side of the campfire.

"Wheres hope?" she wondered as she took a second look at the footprints, and noticed that those footprints were about the same size as Hopes! She quickly followed the footprints several yards to a cliff that could easily lead fifty feet down, and Lightning gasped.

"Did he jump off?" she asked to herself, but before she could jump to any conclusions, she noticed someone, or something, crying to the distance. She took a look around and noticed a large boulder placed several feet away from the cliff, and hope was facing it, crying.

"Why.... Why Me... Why does it always have to be me?" Hope cried out "Mom.... I am sorry, I Failed you"

Lightning was listening to Hope's conversation, but couldn't make any sense out of it. She approached Hope and touched his shoulder and asked "Hope, what is wrong?"

Hope was scared and jumped a few feet before noticing it was just Lightning, "S-s-s-s-sss, sorry Light. I am sorry!" He cried out and ran away from her running towards the cliff "I can't take it anymore! The l'Cie, the C'eth! I cant!"

Lightning, now turned around and faced Hope and she said, "Dont do it! What would you accomplish by jumping off of this cliff?"

"A lot coming out of your mouth!" Hope replied, "I am sick of it all! Goodbye!" and suddenly, Hope jumped off of the cliff.

Lightning knew she had to react fast. Otherwise, Hope could fall to his death! She quickly ran to the cliff's edge and was able to grab Hope's right wrist and pulled him back up. After she rescued Hope, Lightning demanded, "Hope, Sit down now! Tell me whats wrong, let it out!"

Hope finally started to stop crying, let go of his suicidal demeanor and was able to calm down enough to let his true emotions come out "I keep thinking that I slow everyone down. Everyone thinks that I am a burden and nothing but deadweight."

"Hope..." She calmed down, trying to reassure him by putting an arm around his shoulders, "Continue on" she said

"This dreaded l'Cie mark. Its bothersome! I want it all to go away!" He cried

Lightning was a little concerned. She pulled back Hope's glove to see that the brand has getting closer to its ever dangerous state. The arrows were pointing out and an eye was just barely open. Afterward, Lightning turned around and peered down her shirt to check her own brand. The arrows were just starting to point out, but there was no eye yet.

"Don't Worry." She said, "Everything will be okay. Now, lets go back. I am not letting you leave my sight because of that stunt you just pulled, understand?"

"Yes Light." Hope acknowledged, "I am so sorry for what I done."

"Don't worry about it. At least you are alive still." Lightning replied, "If I wasn't here, you would be dead." and the two walked back to the campsite.

When they arrived, the two were in a shock! Several fiends have managed to take the advantage and launched a surprise attack while the others were asleep! Lightning knew that something was wrong, as she could only watch in terror that she seen everyone's lips move, but no voice coming out and their bodies were frozen in place.

"Silence and paralysis." She thought, "This could be bad."

"Light, Lets clean up this mess!" Hope proclaimed

"Alright Hope." She awnsered and the two were ready, weapons drawn to deal with the fiends. "Hope, cast fire on those fiends, maybe they will be frightened and go away"

"Okay, here it goes" Hope replied as he casted several fire spells at the fiends, causing them to flee in fright.

"We need to Esuna our Friends!" Lightning said

"Alright Light" Hope replied as he and Lightning casted Esuna onto their ailing friends.

"I can talk again!" Vanille proclaimed

"Phew, Glad that's over" Sazh said

"That was a close one" Snow said

"Agreed." Fang replied

The other four begin to look at Hope very uniquely. They started to see him as a hero.

"Hope, you amazing!" Vanille said as she walked up to Hope and hugged him.

"Well, thanks." Hope replied

"Hope, your are not worthless as you thought you were. You proved yourself out there. I am proud of you. You are not hopeless as you said, and that is a lot of courage to overcome saving the others." Lightning said as she gave Hope a hug for a job well done.

"I don't know about you, but I think we should move, in case of another ambush" Snow said, "Those fiends could come back with their friends and get us all!"

"I agree. Lets go." Lightning said as the others packed up their goods and moved on, deeper into Gran Pulse.


End file.
